Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/641

 PATTL

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PAUL

duced splendid carnival festivities, built the palace of S. Marco (now di Venezia), revised the municipal statutes of Rome, organized relief work among the poor, granted pensions to some cardinals, and to all the privilege of wearing the red biretta. His sup- pression in 1466 of the college of abbreviators aroused much opposition, intensified by a similar measure against the Roman Academy. Platina, a member of both organizations, who had been repeatedly im- prisoned, retaliated by writing a calumnious biography of Paul II.

That Paul II was not opposed to Humanistic studies, as such, is evidenced by the fact that he pro- tected universities, encouraged the art of printing, and was himself a collector of works of ancient art. The suppres.sion of the Roman Academy was justified

by the moral degeneracy and pagan attitude which it fostered. On the other hand the charge of immo- rality brought against Paul II by Gregory of Heim- burg is untenable. The pope punished the Fraticelli in the Papal States, prosecuted heretics in France and Germany, decreed in 1470 the observance of the jubi- lee every twenty-five years, and made an unsuccessful attempt at uniting Russia with the Church. The Turkish question received his earnest attention, par- ticularly after the fall of Negropont (1470). Finan- cial assistance was granted to Hungary and the .Alba- nian leader Scanderbeg. No general results were obtained, however, owing to the lack of co-operation among the Christian powers; to disturbances in the Papal States, where Paul II suppressed the robber knights of Anguillara, and perhaps chiefly to the con- flict between the papacy and King George Podiebrad of Bohemia.

C.tNENSius, Vita Pauli II (Rome, 1740); Caspar Veronen- 8IB, be Gestis Pauli II, partly in MrRATORi, Rer, Ital. Script., III. II, 1025-.53 (Milan, 1734); Cbeighton. History of the Papacy, new ed., IV (New York, 1903), 3-63, 315-27; Pastor, Geschichte der Pdpste, II (4th ed., Freiburg, 1904), 291-447, 757-79; tr. Anthobos, IV (London, 1894), 3-194, 475-504.

N. A. Weber.

Paul III, Pope (Aless.\ndro Farnese), b. at Rome or Canino, 29 Feb., 1468; elected, 12 Oct., 1.5.34; d. at Rome, 10 Nov., 1549. The Farnese were an ancient Roman family whose possessions clustered about the Lake of Bolsena. Although counted among the Ro- man aristocrats, they first appear in history associated with Viterbo and Orvieto. Among the witnesses to the Treaty of Venice between Bar- barossa and the pope, we find the signature of a Farnese as Rector of Orvieto; a Farnese bi.shop conse- crated the cathedral there. During III. the interminable feuds which di.s-

tracted the peninsula, the Farnese were consistently Guelph. The grandfather of the future pontiff was commander-in-chief of the papal troops under Euge-

Arms of Paul

nius IV ; his oldest son perished in the battle of For- nuovo; the second. Pier Luigi, married Giovannella Gaetani, sister to the Lord of Sermoneta. Among their children were the beautiful Giulia, who married an Orsini, and Alessandro, later Paul III. Alessandro received the best education that his age could offer; first at Rome, where he had Pomponio Leto for a tutor; later at Florence in the palace of Lorenzo the Magnifi- cent, where he formed his friendship with the future Leo X, six years his junior. His contemporaries praise his proficiency in all the learning of the Renais- sance, especially in his mastery of classical Latin and Italian. With such advantages of birth and talent, his advancement in the ecclesiastical career was as- sured and rapid. On 20 Sept., 1493 (Eubel), he was created by Alexander VI cardinal-deacon with the title SS. Cosmas and Damian. He wore the purple for over forty years, passing through the several gradations, until he became Dean of the Sacred Col- lege. In accordance with the abuses of his time, he his immense revenue with a generosity which won for him the praises of artists and the affection of the Ro- man populace. His native ability and diplomatic skill, acquired by long ex-perience, made him tower above his colleagues in the Sacred College, even as his Pa- lazzo Farnese excelled in magnificence all the other palaces of Rome. That he continued to grow in favour under pontiffs so different in character as the Borgia, Rovera, and Medici popes is a sufficient proof of his tact.
 * iceumulated a number of opulent benefices, and spent

He had already on two previous occasions, come within measurable distance of the tiara, when the con- clave of 1534, almost without the formality of a ballot, proclaimed him successor to Clement VII. It was creditable to his reputation and to the good will of the cardinals, that the factions which divided the Sacred College were concordant in electing him. He was universally recognized as the man of the hour; and the piety and zeal, which had characterized him after he was ordained priest, caused men to overlook the ex- travagance of his earlier years.

The Roman people rejoiced at the elevation to the tiara of the first citizen of their city since Martin V. Paul III was crowned 3 Nov., and lost no time in setting about the most needed reforms. No one, who has once studied his portrait by Titian, is likely to forget the wonderful expression of countenance of that worn-out, emaciated form. Those piercing little eyes, and that peculiar attitude of one ready to bound or to shrink, tell the story of a veteran diplomat who was not to be deceived or taken off guard. His extreme caution, and the difficulty of binding him down to a definite obligation, drew from Pasquino the facetious remark that the third Paul was a "Vas dilationis." The elevation to the cardinalate of his grandsons, Alessan- dro Farnese, aged fourteen, andGuidoAscanio Sforza, aged sixteen, displeased the reform party and drew a protest from the emperor; but this was forgiven, when shortly after, he introduced into the Sacred College men of the calibre of Reginald Pole, Contanini, Sad- oleto, and Caraffa.

Soon after his elevation, 2 June, 1536, Paul III sum- moned a general council to meet at Mantua in the fol- lowing May; but the opposition of the Protestant princes and the refusal of the Duke of Mantua to as- sume the responsibility of maintaining order frustrated the project. He issued a new bull, convoking a coun- cil at Vicenza, 1 May, 1538; the chief obstacle was the renewed enmity of Charles V and Francis I. The aged pontiff induced them to hold a conference with him at Nizza and conclude a ten years' truce. As a token of good will, a granddaughter of Paul was mar- ried to a French prince, and the emperor gave his daughter, Margaret, to Ottavio, the son of Pier Luigi, f<)unfler of the Farnese dynasty of Parma.

Many causes contributed to delay the opening of